ADJECTIVES

 

Read the following sentences:

·         Sita is a clever girl. (Girl of what kind1?)

·         I don't like that boy, (Which boy?)

·         He gave me five mangoes. (How many mangoes?)

·         There is little time for preparation. (How much time?)

In sentence 1, ‘clever’ shows what kind of girl Sita is; or, in other words, ‘clever’ describes Sita.

In sentence 2, ‘that’ points out which boy is meant.

In sentence 3, ‘five’ shows how many mangoes he gave me.

In sentence 4, ‘little’ shows how much time there is for preparation.

 

A word used with a noun to describe or point out, the person, animal, place or thing which the noun names, or to tell the number or quantity, is called an Adjective. So we may define an Adjective as a word used with a noun to add something for its meaning. Adjective means “added to”.

 

Look at the following sentences:-

·         The lazy boy was punished.

·         The boy is lazy.

 

In sentence 1, the Adjective lazy is used along with the noun boy as an epithet or attribute. It is, therefore, said to be used attributively.

In sentence 2, the Adjective lazy is used along with the verb is, and forms part of the Predicate. It is, therefore, said to be used predicatively.

 

Some Adjectives can be used only Predicatively; as,

·         She is afraid of ghosts.

·         I am quite well.

.

Kinds of Adjectives

Adjectives may be divided into the following classes:

 

Adjectives of Quality (or Descriptive Adjective) show the kind or quality of a person or thing; as,

-          Kolkata is a large city.

-          He is an honest man.

-          The foolish old crow tried to sing.

 (Adjectives formed from Proper Nouns (e.g., French wines, Turkish tobacco, Indian tea,etc.) are sometimes called Proper Adjectives. They are generally classed with Adjectives of Quality) language.

Adjectives of Quality answer the question: Of what kind?

 

Adjectives of Quantity show how much of a thing is meant as,

-          I ate some rice.

-          He showed much patience.

-          He has little intelligence.

-          We have had enough exercise.

-          He has lost all his wealth.

-          You have no sense.

-          He did not eat any rice.

-          Take great care of your health.

-          He claimed his half share of the booty.

-          There has not been sufficient rain this year.

-          The whole sum was expended.

Adjectives of Quantity answer the question: How much?

 

Adjectives of Number (or Numeral Adjectives) show how many persons or things are meant, or in what order a person or thing stands; as,

-          The hand has five fingers.

-          Few cats like cold water.

-          There are no pictures in this book.

-          I have taught you many things.

-          All men must die.

-          Here are some ripe mangoes.

-          Most boys like cricket.

-          There are several mistakes in your exercise.

-          Sunday is the first day of the week

 

Adjectives of Number are of three kinds:

(i) Definite Numeral Adjectives, which denote an exact number; as, One, two, three, etc. (These are called Cardinals.) First, second, third, etc. (These are called Ordinals.) A Cardinal denotes how many, and an Ordinal the order of things in a series.

(ii) Indefinite Numeral Adjectives, which do not denote an exact number; as: All, no; many, few; some, any; certain, several, sundry.

(iii) Distributive Numeral Adjectives, which refer to each one of a number; as.,

-          Each boy must take his turn.

-          India expects every man to do his duty.

-          Every word of it is false.

-          Either pen will do.

-          On either side is a narrow lane.

-          Neither accusation is true.

 

The same Adjective may be classed as of Quantity or Number, according to its use.

Adjectives of Quantity                                                Adjectives of Number

I ate some rice.                                                            Some boys are clever.

He has lost all his wealth.                                             All men must die.

You have no sense.                                                      There are no pictures in this book.

He did not eat any rice.                                               Are there any mango-trees in this garden?

I have enough sugar.                                                    There are not enough spoons.

 

Demonstrative Adjectives point out which person or thing is meant; as,

-          This boy is stronger than Hari.

-          That boy is industrious.

-          These mangoes are sour.

-          Those rascals must be punished.

-          Yonder fort once belonged to Shivaji.

-          I hate such things.

Demonstrative Adjectives answer the question: Which?

It will be noticed that this and that are used with Singular nouns and these and those with Plural nouns.

What, which and whose, when they are used with nouns to ask questions, are called Interrogative Adjectives; as,

-          What manner of man is he?

-          Which way shall we go?

-          Whose book is this?

It will be seen that what is used in a general sense and which in a selective sense.

 

In the following sentences the words own and very are used as Emphasizing

Adjectives:

-          I saw it with my own eyes.

-          He was beaten at his own game.

-          Mind your own business.

-          He is his own master.

-          That is the very thing we want.

-          My very adversary took my part”.

 

The word “what” is sometimes used as an Exclamatory Adjective; as.

-          What genius!

-          What folly!

-          What an idea!

-          What a blessing!

-          What a piece of work is man!

 

As already pointed out, “this” and “that” are the only Adjectives which are inflected or changed in form to show number.

-          This girl sings.

-          These girls sing.

-          That boy plays.

-          Those boys play.

This, these indicate something near to the speaker. That, those indicate more distant objects.

 

 

Formation of Adjectives

 

(i)                 Many Adjectives are formed from Nouns.

 

Noun                                                    Adjective

Boy                                                       boyish

Fool                                                       foolish

Dirt                                                         dirty

Storm                                                     stormy

Care                                                        careful

Pardon                                                    pardonable

Play                                                        playful

Laugh                                                     laughable

Hope                                                     hopeful

Outrage                                                              outrageous

Venture                                                              venturesome

Courage                                                 courageous

Trouble                                                  troublesome

Glory                                                     glorious

Shame                                                   shameless

Envy                                                      envious

Sense                                                     senseless

Man                                                       manly

Silk                                                        silken

King                                                      kingly

Gold                                                      golden

Gift                                                       gifted

 

(ii)               Some Adjectives are formed from Verbs.

Verb                                                     Adjective

Tire                                                        tireless

Cease                                                     ceaseless

Talk                                                       talkative

Move                                                     moveable

 

(iii)             Some Adjectives are formed from other Adjectives.

Adjective                                              Adjective

Tragic                                                    tragical

Black                                                     blackish

Whole                                                    wholesome

White                                                    whitish

Three                                                     threefold

 

An adjective can come before a noun.

-          A cheap shirt

It can also be a complement after be.

-          This shirt is cheap.

Adjectives in ing express the effect something has on us.

-          The delay was annoying.

Adjectives in ed express how we feel.

-          The passengers were annoyed.

 

Adjectives can also express other meanings such as origin (an American writer), place (an inland waterway), frequency (a weekly newspaper), degree (a complete failure), necessity (an essential safeguard) and degrees of certainty (the probable result).

 

An adjective always has the same form. There are no endings for number or gender.

-          An old ma, an old woman, old people

But some adjectives take comparative and superlative endings.

-          My wife is older than I am.

-          This is the oldest building in the town.

 

The position of adjectives

An adjective phrase can have one or more adjectives.

-          A large stadium

-          A large empty stadium

An adverb of degree can come before an adjective.

-          A very large stadium

-          An almost empty stadium

-          A very large, almost empty stadium

The adverb “enough” follows the adjective.

-          Will the stadium be large enough?

We can put a phrase of measurement before some adjectives.

-          The man is about forty years old and six feet tall.

An adjective can go before a noun or as complement after a linking verb such as be, seem, get. These positions are called 'attributive' and 'predicative'.

·         Attributive: It is a large stadium. (Before a noun)

·         Predicative: The stadium is large. (As complement)

An adjective can also be an object complement.

·         Why must you make things difficult?

·         A noisy party kept us awake.

We can use an adjective in an exclamation with how.

·         How lovely the view is!

·         How cold your hands are!

Most adjectives can be either in attributive position (nice weather) or in predicative position (The weather is nice). But a few go in one position but not in the other.

 

1-      Attributive only

·         That was the main reason, (NOT That reason was main.)

·         The story is utter nonsense.

·         Inner ring road

These adjectives are attributive but not predicative: chief, elder (= older), eldest (= oldest), eventual, former (= earlier), indoor, inner, main, mere (a mere child = only a child), only, outdoor, outer, principal (= main), sheer (= complete), sole (= only), upper, utter (= complete).

·         Little is mostly attributive.

·         Same cannot be predicative, except with the.

A noun as modifier can only be attributive.

·         A tennis club

·         A water pipe

·         Afternoon tea

But nouns saying what something is made of can go in either position.

·         It's a metal pipe./The pipe is metal.

 

2-      Predicative only

·         The children were soon asleep. (NOT the asleep children)

·         The manager seemed pleased with the sales figures.

·         One person was ill and couldn't come.

These adjectives are predicative but not attributive.

Some words with the prefix a: asleep, awake, alive, afraid, ashamed, alone, alike. Some words expressing feelings: pleased, glad, content, upset. Some words to do with health: well, fine, ill, unwell

Many of these adjectives can be attributive if they are modified by an adverb.

·         The wide awake children

·         An extremely pleased customer

There is sometimes a word that we can use attributively instead of one with the prefix a.

·         A sleeping child (NOT an asleep child)

·         A living person (NOT an alive person)

·         The frightened animal (NOT the afraid animal)

There are also other words expressing feelings which we can use attributively.

·         A satisfied/contented customer (NOT a pleased customer)

Pleased, glad and upset can be attributive when not referring directly to people.

·         A pleased expression

·         The glad news

·         An upset stomach

 

Adjectives after nouns and pronouns

Some adjectives can have a prepositional phrase after them.

·         People were anxious for news.

·         The field was full of sheep.

Sometimes the position of the adjective depends on the meaning.

·         The amount of money involved is quite small. (= relevant)

·         It's a rather involved story. (= complicated)

·         The person concerned is at lunch, I'm afraid. (= relevant)

·         A number of concerned people have joined the protest. (= worried)

·         There were ten members of staff present. (= there)

·         Our present problems are much worse. (= now)

·         Judy seems a responsible person. (= sensible)

·         The person responsible will be punished. (= who did it).

 

“Available” can come before or after a noun.

·         The only available tickets

·         The only tickets available were very expensive.

“Possible” can come after the noun when there is a superlative adjective.

·         We took the shortest possible route

·         The shortest route possible.

The adjective follows the noun in a few titles and idiomatic phrases.

·         The Director General

·         A Sergeant Major

·         The Princess Royal

·         The sum total

Adjectives come after a compound with every, some, any and no.

·         Let's find somewhere quiet.

·         You mustn't do anything silly.

 

 

The order of adjectives

 

1-      Attributive adjectives

When two or more adjectives come before a noun, there is usually a fairly fixed order.

·         Beautiful golden sands

·         A nice new blue coat

The order depends mainly on the meaning. Look at these groups of adjectives and other modifiers.

·         Opinion: nice, wonderful, excellent, lovely, terrible, awful, etc

·         Size: large, small, long, short, tall, etc

·         Quality: clear, busy, famous, important, quiet, etc

·         Age: old, new

·         Shape: round, square, fat, thin, wide, narrow, etc

·         Colour: red, white, blue, green, etc

·         Participle forms: covered, furnished, broken, running, missing, etc

·         Origin: British, Italian, American, etc

·         Material: brick, paper, plastic, wooden, etc

·         Type: human, chemical, domestic, electronic, money (problems), etc

·         Purpose: alarm (clock), tennis (court), walking (boots), etc

 

Words from these groups usually come in this order:

opinion + size + quality + age + shape + colour + participle forms + origin + material + type + purpose

Ø  An old cardboard box (age + material)

Ø  A German industrial company (origin + type)

Ø  Two small round green discs (size + shape + colour)

Ø  A large informative street plan (size + quality + type)

Ø  A hard wooden seat (quality + material)

Ø  A new improved formula (age + participle form)

Ø  Increasing financial difficulties (participle form + type)

Ø  Two excellent public tennis courts (opinion + type + purpose)

 

These rules are not absolute. The order can sometimes be different. We sometimes prefer to put a short adjective before a long one.

Ø  A big horrible building

Old and young referring to people often come next to the noun.

Ø  A dignified old lady

Ø  A pale young man

Words for material are mostly nouns (brick), but some are adjectives (wooden). Words for type can be adjectives (chemical) or nouns (money problems). Words for purpose are nouns (alarm clock) or gerunds (walking boots).

In general, the adjective closest to the noun has the closest link in meaning with the noun and expresses what is most permanent about it. For example, in the phrase “two excellent public tennis courts”, the word tennis is closely linked to courts, whereas excellent is not linked so closely. The fact that the courts are for tennis is permanent, but their excellence is a matter of opinion.

When two adjectives have similar meanings, the shorter one often comes first.

Ø  A bright, cheerful smile

Ø  A soft, comfortable chair

Sometimes two different orders are both possible.

Ø  A peaceful, happy place/A happy, peaceful place

 

2-      “And” and “but” with attributive adjectives

We can sometimes put “and” between two adjectives.

Ø  A soft, comfortable chair

Ø  A soft and comfortable chair

But we do not normally use “and” between adjectives with different kinds of meanings.

Ø  beautiful golden sands (opinion, colour)

We use “and” when the adjectives refer to different parts of something.

Ø  A black and white sweater (partly black and partly white)

 

We use “but” when the adjectives refer to two qualities in contrast.

Ø  A cheap but effective solution

 

3-      Predicative adjectives

The order of predicative adjectives is less fixed than the order before a noun. Except sometimes in a literary style, we use “and” before the last adjective.

Ø  The chair was soft and comfortable.

Adjectives expressing an opinion often come last.

Ø  The city is old and beautiful.

We can use “nice” and “lovely” in this pattern with “and”.

Ø  The room was nice and warm. (= nicely warm)

We can use “but” when two qualities are in contrast.

Ø  The solution is cheap but effective.

 

Amusing and amused, interesting and interested

Compare the adjectives in “ing” and “ed”.

Ø  The show made us laugh. It was very amusing.

Ø  The audience laughed. They were very amused.

Ø  I talked to a very interesting man.

Ø  I was interested in what he was telling me.

Ø  I find these diagrams confusing.

Ø  I'm confused by these diagrams.

Ø  This weather is depressing, isn't it?

Ø  Don't you feel depressed when it rains?

 

Adjectives in “ing” express what something is like, the effect it has on us. For example, a show can be amusing, interesting or boring.

Adjectives in “ed” express how we feel about something. For example, the audience can feel amused, interested or bored.

Some pairs of adjectives like this are:

Ø  alarming/alarmed

Ø  exciting/excited

Ø  amusing/amused

Ø  fascinating/fascinated

Ø  annoying/annoyed

Ø  puzzling/puzzled

Ø  confusing/confused

Ø  relaxing/relaxed

Ø  depressing/depressed

Ø  surprisingly/surprised

Ø  disappointing/disappointed

Ø  tiring/tired

These words have the same form as active and passive participles.

 

Social groups

We can use “the” + adjective to refer to some groups of people in society.

Ø  In the England of 1900 little was done to help the poor. (= poor people)

Ø  Who looks after the old and the sick? (= old people and sick people)

The poor means 'poor people in general'. It cannot refer to just one person or to a  small group. Here it means 'poor people in England in 1900'. The poor is more

 

“The” + adjective takes a plural verb.

Ø  The old are greatly respected.

Here are some examples of adjectives used in this way.

Ø  Social/Economic: the rich, the poor, the strong, the weak, the hungry, the (under)privileged, the disadvantaged, the unemployed, the homeless

Ø  Physical/Health: the blind, the deaf, the sick, the disabled, the handicapped, the living, the dead

Ø  Age: the young, the middle-aged, the elderly, the old

 

The adjective can be modified by an adverb.

Ø  the very rich

Ø  the severely disabled

Some adjectives normally take an adverb.

Ø  the more/less fortunate

Ø  the mentally ill

 

In a few contexts, “the” + adjective can mean a specific group rather than people in general.

Ø  The injured were taken to hospital.

A few adjectives can come after a/an to mean a specific person.

Ø  Now a superstar, she was an unknown only two years ago.

There are a few adjectives that we can use as nouns, such as colour words. They take “s” in the plural.

Ø  a black (= a black person)

Ø  the Greens (= supporters of the green movement)

 

We can use some adjectives after “the” to refer to things in general which have an abstract quality.

Ø  There are a lot of books on the supernatural.

Ø  The human race has a great thirst for the unknown.

The supernatural means 'supernatural happenings in general'. Other examples: the mysterious, the unexplained, the absurd, the ordinary, the old, the new.

The noun phrase takes a singular verb.

Ø  The new drives out the old.